The invention relates to an X-ray examination apparatus comprising a light-tight film processing section with at least one film storage magazine for storing a number of film sheets. One film sheet at a time can be removed from the storage magazine in order to be transported to an exposure position by means of an unloading and transport device.
An X-ray examination apparatus of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,850 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2616926. For an X-ray exposure, a film is automatically removed from the film storage magazine in order to be transported to an exposure position. After the exposure, the film is transported to a takeup magazine of the examination apparatus or to a development device which is coupled to the examination apparatus.
The advantages of such an X-ray examination apparatus over a conventional X-ray examination apparatus (especially in the case of Bucky exposures) are that the operator need not insert a new film cassette with a film sheet for each exposure, so that loading and unloading of the cassette in a dark room are no longer necessary and the amount of work is substantially reduced. When a development device is integrated in the X-ray examination apparatus (a standard feature of many contemporary devices), a dark room is substantially superfluous.
However, even though such an apparatus is usually used for Bucky exposures, quite often cassette exposures are desirable. For example, for making exposures of extremities (hands or feet), a cassette is placed on the table top of the X-ray examination apparatus and the hand to be radiographed is positioned on the cassette. If the film for such cassette exposures would have to be inserted into the cassette in a dark room and be removed therefrom again in a dark room, the advantages of such an apparatus would be substantially lost.
Therefore, devices are known in which the cassettes are inserted in order to be automatically loaded and unloaded (see, for example United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,420,918, FIGS. 5 and 6, and United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,454,750, FIGS. 7 and 8). Such devices, which are referred to as "daylight systems", are comparatively expensive. Usually each film or cassette format requires a daylight system.